14|07|2017

Image taken from the film poster

Filmed in India and Nepal, the experimental documentary Kalinga Utkal follows Picco's journeys to the heart of the subcontinent’s Buddhist and Hindu cities

Pablo Picco of experimental folk group Ø+yn has made a travel film soundtracked by an array of Argentine alternative musicians. Called Kalinga Utkal, the film documents Hindu and Buddhist cultures in India and Nepal. Musical contributors include Pan Del Indio, Calato, Ø+yn, Mariano Rodriguez, and Uton, among others; but an audio recording of a Tashi Ling Buddhist ceremony will be released separately as The Bombastic And Repetitive Sound Of Tashi Ling Buddhas In Pokhara, Nepal on the More Mars label.

“The temple was somewhat small but the voices and the mood was very, very strong,” recalls Picco, when asked about the recording of that ceremony. “The recordings were made on a day they call ‘happy holy’, which is the international celebration of colours. At the beginning of that record, the recordings were made outside the temple. Getting there was pretty odd because it was VERY dark and the road was in some ways creepy.

“We woke up around 4am and drove by motorbike,” he continues. “But at some point we became very lost in the fog on the dark road… not a single soul was there at that hour... so we drove further and further hoping to get to some meeting point or something.

“Luckily we made it to the temple. We weren’t allowed to enter until the first callings were made – that’s the sound of horns at the beginning of the record – and then when the gong started, a monk inside opened the gate for us.

“The other sounds present on the disc were recorded the same day at the Pewa Tai Lake. Also the part of the clock and the crowd was recorded outside that cave too while they were touching and celebrating with a man that has special powers.”